A broken heart can be healed
by native chicklet
Summary: She loves him, but he can't love her, not yet. Desperate, Sakura begs Sasuke to love her... never realising that another boy has loved her all along.                       A fic for a contest, so I REALLY need your thoughts!


_Forbidden love... That is one of the most cliche forms of romance..._

_But... it's the one I live..._

Sakura Haruno sat gazing at the beautiful sunrise from her bedroom window, her thin pink curtains blowing around her, hiding the tears falling down her face.

She hugged her old worn bear to her chest, trying to squeeze out all the pain that tormented her heart each day.

_Why..? Why did it have to be him, why did I have to grow to love that certain shinobi? Of all the boys I know... it was his dark empty eyes I was drawn to, and it's my green... that he detests._

She loved him so much, it looked like the same fangirl crush that every other kunoichi had on him, but her's was so much deeper.

Because she could see what the others didn't.

He was like an old history book... worn, marked, mysterious, strong, and endearing. But unlike the other books.. he was anything but open. His pages didn't flip in the breeze, the words weren't clear and big.

He was a forbidden novel, locked away and hidden from her reach. No matter how hard she fought, how hard she tried, and how desperately she grabbed.. she couldn't take him down to her.

And it was eating away at her slowly. Her cheerful smiles seemed to be less frequent, her sparkling orbs were growing dim... but still she clung to the tiny stone of hope that kept her coming back to him.

She would never give up on her beautiful raven... no matter how many times he pecked at her, and told her to leave him alone.

_Why won't she accept me? Still... who am I kidding? I fell in love with the beautiful Sakura blossoms of spring, my love...like their petals... will float away on the breeze.. unnoticed by all but me.._

Naruto Uzumaki layed in the field on the outskirts of Konoha, his blond head blending with the bending flowers surrounding him. If anyone looked straight into his eyes, they'd have seen straight down into his heart.

He didn't need to hide his emotions here, it was his sanctuary. He could think, laugh, and... cry. Whenever he wanted to,when he came here. Now more than ever, he thought of Sakura... because ironically, the majority of the forest around him, was made up of sakura trees.

_The sunset is amazing today... it was just like this that day..._

Naruto's bright eyes darkened as the memory of the day he met with Sakura flooded his mind. He had confessed his love... and she shot him down so hard.. it was surprising that anyone would even like her after such an episode.

_But I don't care... it's stupid of me... but I just __can't__ let her go... I have almost nothing...so I won't lose what I already have. Even if it means my heart has to brake everytime I see her, and pain will squeeze my soul each day I can't have her... even though I have to keep living alone... who cares?_

_Loneliness and rejection aren't new things for me... I've felt them every day of my life..so why will it be different now?_

He was so much deeper than anyone but Iruka knew, and although he didn't let it show... he did feel pain.

The cold stares of the village people stung, the things people called him... they hurt more than cuts and bruises... but this new experience... a broken heart...it tormented him.

It would be awhile before he pulled himself back up from this wound...

_I haven't always been alone... and the memories of when I had family... they make me suffer so horribly, I would rather feel the pain of the seal twice as strong... rather than live through my memories. I don't want anyone... because I don't want to lose anyone..._

Sasuke Uchiha sat with his head resting on his hands, the cool evening breeze ruffling his hair. He was on a bench placed just off a trail leading to a village gate... it was time to leave...

"Time to become stronger..." He muttered.

He sat in silence for what was minutes, but felt like centuries. Ready, he stood, nothing on this world would hold him back now. Someone had already tried... and failed. Sasuke gave Sakura one last look then walked away, the memory of her confontation playing in his mind.

_"Sasuke-kun..."_

_He turned slowly, and standing in the light of a lamp, was Sakura. _

_"Don't bother trying to stop me." He said sharply, just as Sakura opened her mouth._

_"But.. Sasuke-kun. Please don't go! You don't need him... I can help you! We'll find a way..._

_just please...don't leave...me alone."_

_He stared at her, his expression unreadable. _

_"I can't love... I won't love. You're wasting your time, leave me alone, my life is none of your business."_

_But still she tried, her pleas and voice becoming more,and more desperate._

_His eyes flashed with anger, and his voice seemed to echo in the dark._

_"Enough!"_

_Sakura cringed, and her face shined as tears flowed down her cheeks._

_"I love you! Why can't you let me help you then?!? I'll fight Itachi with you... I'll do anything! So please..._

_just love me back."_

_The second before everything went dark, she saw a glimmer of guilt in his eyes..._

He told her... he just couldn't love, because when he loved something, it was always taken away...

Naruto was sulking, he just left his field, and was heading through the bush back to the trail into the village. His pondering did nothing but make things worst...

_That usually happens when I think..._

He thought, laughing bitterly. He stopped in his tracks when he saw Sakura laying limp on a bench. His heart hammered in his chest as he ran to her, gently, he took her in his arms.

"Sakura-chan? Sakura-chan? Are you alright, what happened? Saku..." He stopped when he saw her eyelids clench, then open.

"Naruto? W-where's Sasuke?" She pushed him away and rubbed her eyes, her free hand gingerly felt her neck.

_She's been crying..._

"Did... he really leave? Naruto... did you see him? Did you try to stop him?" Her eyes were red, her voice was so desperate. He shook his head, words leaving him.

"No.." Her eyes filled with water and her face fell. She cried infront of him, the sound was pitiful, so sad and hopeless... "I told him... I love him...why..why...aren't I good enough?" She kept rambling, not realising how much her words stung him.

_I've been wondering the same Sakura-chan... the very same thing..._

When Sakura calmed, and minutes passed, Naruto still hadn't made a sound, he just stood with his head hanging.

Realisation hit Sakura, and she saw how awful she was being. "I'm sorry Naruto... I've been heartless. You said you had a crush or something on me right?" She stood and walked to him.

When she held his face up to see hers, she couldn't help but gasp.

His eyes weren't the same. Their usual shine wasn't there, instead there was a dim glow. His eyes seemed to hold all the pain and torment of every shinobi of the world,

his expression cracked at the sight of her

and tears trickled down his face.

His love for her was plain and open for the anyone to see, and she had to do was look into his eyes.

Guilt slammed into with the combined force of the rasengan and chidori.

_I've been chasing after forbidden love... unwanted and unreturned... while the entire time... the truest and most innocent of love... has been with me all along. All I did was ignore and blow it off, because of Sasuke-kun..._

He tried to pull away, but she pulled him into a hug, shocking him. "Sa..." She silenced him, putting her index finger against his lips.

"Naruto... I've been so stupid... I was blind to everything but my love for Sasuke... I never gave anyone else a chance. I can't promise you anything... it'll take time for me to let go of Sasuke, but can you wait longer? Can you wait for me to move on... if you can... Who knows who'll be my next love?"

Naruto stared at her in shock, completely dumb-founded. He was silent for a moment, then hugged her back, spinning her around in circles laughing. He put her down and grinned widely, the shine that vanished months ago, back full force.

"Of course Sakura-chan! I'll wait until the world crumbles, until the sun burns out, until the sea dries out, until..." Sakura giggled and waved her hands at him.

"Enough, enough! Do you really expect me to live that long... Naruto-kun?"

Naruto was so happy to hear her call him that, he practically passed out.

They laughed and walked away into the dark, the reason they met forgotten as the wind blew Sakura blossoms around them.


End file.
